TAMPA -- In a ruling Tuesday that stunned the Church of Scientology and
its attorneys, a Hillsborough County judge allowed Scientology's worldwide
leader, David Miscavige, to be named as a defendant in a lawsuit over the
1995 death of church member Lisa McPherson.

Miscavige's authority in Scientology is limited to ecclesiastical matters,
according to church officials. But the lawsuit, filed by McPherson's
family in 1997, has been amended to say that he "totally controls" and
"micro-manages all of Scientology," and that his ecclesiastical role is
part of an elaborate set-up to shield Scientology and its leaders from
liability.

The lawsuit also says Miscavige's subordinates informed him of McPherson's
deteriorating condition and were acting on his orders as she became
psychotic and was "imprisoned" for 17 days while in the care of
Scientology staffers in Clearwater.

McPherson died on Dec. 5, 1995, as church staffers took her in a van to
see a Scientologist doctor at a New Port Richey emergency room.

The addition of Miscavige as a defendant adds more intensity to a
3-year-old case, which already was hotly contested. Miscavige is revered
in Scientology circles, and the church's attorneys indicated his
involvement would only strengthen the church's resolve to defend the
lawsuit.

Church attorneys told Hillsborough County Circuit Judge James S. Moody
that his ruling could add two years to the case after Miscavige hires a
separate legal team that likely will include Gerald Feffer, a Washington,
D.C., lawyer in the same firm that last year defended President Clinton in
the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Feffer also worked with Miscavige for years
to help secure Scientology's long-sought tax exempt status from the
Internal Revenue Service.

Church attorney Eric Lieberman said the addition of Miscavige raises
constitutional questions involving religious practice that will need to be
litigated at length. "This case will be off the rails for years," he told
the judge.

Intense and charismatic, Miscavige was only 26 when he took the reins of
Scientology during a time of internal strife in the early 1980s. Now 39,
he is credited with improving the church's operations, updating its
materials and finally securing the IRS's ruling.

A five-week trial has been scheduled for June, but Scientology attorneys
said there was "zero" chance of it happening with Miscavige as a
defendant. Ken Dandar, who represents McPherson's family, said he saw no
reason why the trial shouldn't proceed as scheduled.

In a 1998 interview with the Times, Miscavige said he was out of the loop
regarding McPherson's care.

"I would have heard about it sometime around the time period that she
died," he said.

That night?

"No. No," he answered. "That doesn't come to me."

He added: "At the time I don't think it was really thought to be that
significant an issue. She died. People die."

Mike Rinder, a top Scientology official, predicted Tuesday that Miscavige
would be removed as a defendant when the church moves to dismiss parts of
the lawsuit in January. He said the effort to bring Miscavige into the
fray was "just a sham" by Dandar and Bob Minton, the New England
millionaire who is funding the case as part of an anti-Scientology
crusade.

Moody ruled after a hearing that focused on a 1997 agreement in which
Dandar pledged to limit the lawsuit to the Church of Scientology in
Clearwater, and not to sue other Scientology entities or their officers.

But Dandar said Tuesday the pact did not prevent him from suing Miscavige.
The hearing focused on the definition of an entity.

In addition to being chairman of the Religious Technology Center -- or
RTC, the ecclesiastical arm of Scientology -- Miscavige also heads the Sea
Organization.

The "Sea Org," as it is known, is a fraternal order of Scientology
staffers who adhere to military-style rules and sign billion-year
contracts, believing they will live many more lives.

Lieberman said the agreement was clearly intended to include the Sea Org
as well as Miscavige in his role as RTC chairman. He also said Miscavige
was covered in the agreement under Dandar's own scenario, which portrays
Miscavige as the head of a single Scientology entity.

But Moody said he was persuaded by Dandar's argument, which featured
Scientology's own description of the Sea Org to the IRS in 1993. In that
document, the church stated the Sea Org was not incorporated, had no
management structure, no assets and "does not have any need to operate as
an entity."